A Tale of a Beauty and a Beast
by breakdownohh
Summary: Anakin was found by Darth Sidious before the Jedi could find him. Sidious took him from his mother and raised him to be a ruthless Sith Lord. However, not all proceeded according to plan... Beauty and the Beast with a Star Wars twist. AU; Vader/Padmé
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer_: Don't own it, and more than likely never will.

_A/N_: This story is an AU, and it's heavily based on the original version of Beauty and the Beast (i.e. not the Disney one). I know I'm not the first person to mix Beauty and the Beast and Star Wars, but I'm hoping that I'm the only person to do this take on it. This prologue is very short, I know, but all of the following chapters will be at least 3,000 words or more. I've got some of this story already written and the other half has been planned. I'm hoping to update about once a week, but it will just depend on my schedule. I've got a million scholarships to apply for before the end of the school year. Ew...

And just so that I can clear up any confusion before it happens, in my AU world Darth Sidious is not a politician and doesn't become Chancellor. He's just a normal Sith Lord with the normal dream of destroying the Jedi. Anakin is not found by the Qui-Gon, and when the main part of the story occurs, he is nineteen.

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**A Tale of a Beauty and a Beast**  
_Prologue_

Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away, a young boy lived with his mother on a remote, desert world called Tatooine. The boy had longed all his life to get away from his desert homeworld. He wanted to travel the galaxy. During the world's precious few hours of darkness, the boy would dream of journeying amongst the stars. He dreamed of becoming a Jedi and of saving the galaxy. But the boy knew they were just that. Dreams.

You see, the boy and his mother were slaves. They were owned by a blue Toydarian named Watto. He wasn't a particularly cruel master, but he wasn't exactly a kind one either. The boy and his mother worked very hard all day and went home to their sparsely furnished slave quarters at night. The boy was extremely gifted with mechanics. Often, he was able to fix things labeled "unfixable" by the other local mechanics, and Watto put the boy's talents to good use in his junk shop.

One day, when the boy was about nine standard years, an old man came into the junk shop. The man was dressed in elaborate robes and looked quite out of place when compared to the shop's usual customers.

The man claimed that he was a Jedi. He said that he had come to the Outer Rim to look for Force Sensitives that the Jedi Order may have originally overlooked. When the old man saw the boy, he wasted no time in bargaining with Watto for the boy's freedom.

Watto was reluctant to part with the boy. The boy was his favorite slave and easily the most useful. However, the old man drove a strong bargain, and Watto eventually conceded.

The boy was very excited that he was to leave the desert planet with the old man and become a Jedi, but he was also fearful to leave his mother. He was all the family his mother had, and as a slave, his mother had no friends. He wanted to leave. He wanted to live his dreams, but his worry and love for his mother held him back.

Only with much persuasion from the old man and loving assurance from his mother, did the boy turn his back on the only home he had ever known.

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The next several years were nothing as the boy had imagined. The man, whose name the boy had discovered was Darth Sidious, was neither the kind old man nor the Jedi whom he had led the boy to believe.

The boy was treated far worse as Sidious' apprentice than he had been as a slave, and he constantly longed to be back on his homeworld with his mother.

He had no time for himself. His days were filled with nothing but long, taxing training sessions, and his nights were plagued with nightmares.

Sidious was a very strict master. Failure was not an option. Sidious' punishments were much more painful than anything he'd received as a slave.

As the boy grew older, Sidious began to teach the boy to understand the mystical powers of the Force that he had been using throughout his training. Sidious told the boy to use his anger and hate to his advantage. He taught the boy cruelty and told him emotions such as love and compassion were weak and useless.

The boy resisted at first, but after suffering through several of Sidious' Force lightening punishments, the boy gave in to his master's teachings.

Over time, the boy (who by then was considered a man) became nearly as uncaring and ruthless as his master. He killed without a second thought, and he tortured without sympathy. Yet, somewhere deep inside his heart, he remembered his mother and the love she held for him and he for her. He knew it would break his mother's heart to see him as he was. When he had left her that day on Tatooine, she had hoped that her son would have a better life, not one filled with darkness.

Perhaps that was what the boy was thinking when his master gave him the orders for his final task before becoming a true Sith Lord. Sidious had ordered the boy to destroy the Jedi. Sidious told the boy that once he had completed that task, he would earn the Sith title of Darth Vader.

The boy, however, decided he'd had enough of his master's orders. Maybe the boy remembered the stories he had heard in his childhood about the great and just peacekeepers called the Jedi, or maybe he still harbored the hope of one day becoming a Jedi himself. Whatever the reason, the boy refused and turned on his master.

Their duel was long and spectacular, but at the end, the boy was neither strong nor skilled enough to defeat his master.

The boy was defeated, yet still hung on to his decision. Sidious knew the boy no longer had the potential to fully embrace the Dark side, and so he placed a curse upon the boy.

Sidious' curse encased the boy's body in a suit of black armor. The boy could no longer breath for himself, nor could he live outside of the suit. The curse could only be broken if the boy was able to find true love despite his fearsome outer appearance.

Sidious then banished the boy, and he was forced to flee to the dark, nearly lifeless planet, Vjun. There, the boy named Anakin Skywalker spent his days roaming the halls of Bast Castle and known to all as the bitter and ruthless Darth Vader...


	2. Chapter One

_Disclaimer: _I highly doubt I'd be writing this if I owned either Beauty and the Beast or Star Wars.

_A/N:_ First off, I'd like to thank the people who reviewed and added this story to their alerts/favorites list. That kind of stuff keeps me writing. I'd love some feedback on this chapter as well; is the story moving too slow/too fast, is it boring, is it any good, is my characterization right, is there any grammar mistakes, and so on. I'm sure there are a few grammar problems or something because this story is unbetaed and I had a rather traumatic experience while donating blood today (they poked around in my arm with the needle for like ten minutes trying to find the vein and the lady left my blood pressure cuff thing too tight, forgot about me for a while, and nearly cut off my circulation; my right arm was purple from just above the elbow down), so I'm kind of out of it today. Sorry in advance! Enough of my woes... On with the story!

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**A Tale of a Beauty and a Beast**  
_Chapter One _

"Padmé!"

Padmé Naberrie Amidala, former Queen and Senator, turned her head to see a young woman pushing her way through the crowds to catch up with her.

"Padmé!" the young woman exclaimed as she came closer to Padmé. "I'm so glad I managed to catch up to you before you got too far away from the Palace!" she said, sounding out of breath. "You left your gift basket in your office, and you don't even know how many greedy little hands I had to fight off to get it back to you all intact." The young woman held the basket out to Padmé. "Of course, if you don't want it, I would be happy to take all this wonderfully delicious food off your hands for you."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Sabé," Padmé replied jokingly. "I think I can manage to find _something_ to do with it." She paused and then added in a serious tone, "I don't know what I would do without you these days."

With a small smile, Padmé extended her hand to take the aforementioned basket from her friend. She had received the basket, which was filled to the brim with expensive Nubian chocolates and toffees, as a gift during her retirement party. Padmé was not old by any means, but she had dealt with more in her short political career than most people did in a lifetime, and she felt it was high time for her to hang up her senatorial robes, so to speak.

"Well, it's good to know that you still need me every once in a while." Here, Sabé put the back of her hand against her forehead and her voice took on a dramatic tone. "The life of a Queen's handmaiden is _much_ more boring without you around."

Padmé couldn't suppress her laughter. Though she had been an unwaveringly loyal decoy and handmaiden when Padmé was Queen, Sabé had always had the ability to find humor in a tense situation.

"I should think that's a good thing. I am personally very thankful that the new Queen hasn't had the trouble I had during my two terms. I must be some sort of magnet for it." With that last thought, Padmé let out a weary sigh.

"Just think about it this way," Sabé said cheerfully, "at least you will never get bored."

Padmé gave her friend a weak smile in response.

An awkward silence followed, neither woman knowing quite what to say to the other. After a few moments, Sabé attempted to break the silence.

"Well, I suppose I better get back to the Palace. Wouldn't want the other handmaidens, or the Queen, to worry." Sabé turned to walk away, but suddenly turned back around to face Padmé. "Don't you forget to keep in touch! I may not be your handmaiden anymore, but I still want to know what's going on in your life!"

"Don't worry, Sabé. I'll be sure to keep you up to date with every detail, though it will surely bore you to tears. I'm not planning on doing much, just spending some much needed quality time with my family and perhaps helping my mother with her gardening business. If anything exciting does happen though, you will be the first to know."

"I better be," Sabé replied in a mock serious tone. "I hope to the Force you're joking about the gardening bit, though. I am terribly sorry to break it to you My Lady, but you have a brown thumb where that is concerned." At Padmé's affronted look, Sabé laughed. "Goodbye, Padmé! I'll try to visit you soon."

Sabé turned around and began walking back towards the Royal Palace. Soon, she was lost amongst the crowds of Theed, and Padmé could no longer see her.

Padmé smiled to herself at her friend's antics, and then continued on her walk home.

The streets of Theed were very crowded at this time of day. Most people were just getting off work. It was times like this that Padmé didn't miss city life at all. She was quite happy that her family lived well outside of Naboo's capital city. Of course, Theed at this time was nothing compared to Coruscant at _any_ time. All the cities of Naboo combined would pale in comparison to just the Senatorial district of Coruscant.

Padmé didn't miss Coruscant, either. She enjoyed her time as Senator, but she was glad to be home. She had missed her family.

Ever since Padmé was very young, she had been involved in politics; first as a member of the Junior Legislature Program, then as Princess of Theed and Queen of Naboo (which was when she took on Amidala as her Name of State), and most recently, as the representative of the Chommell Sector in the Galactic Senate. At twenty-four standard years old, Padmé had never had the chance to live a quiet life, and she was determined to do it now.

Padmé wound her way through street vendors, business people, and groups of tourists, hoping to make it home before dark. She had resigned from the Senate and come back to Naboo a couple of months ago, but she still had to come to the Palace every now and then to help inform her replacement about the current goings on of the Senate. Today had been her last day. She had given her replacement every bit of information and helpful advice she possessed.

Now, she was finally free, and she couldn't be any happier... At least that's what she kept telling herself.

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"Mom," Padmé called through the house as she opened the front door, "I'm home!"

Jobal Naberrie poked her head around the door that led to the kitchen. Jobal was a stately woman in her sixties, her originally light brown hair nearly all faded to grey now. She had owned her own gardening and landscaping business for years, but Padmé had always thought that her mother's real talent was in cooking.

Jobal was an excellent chef, and Padmé had never tried a dish of her mother's cooking that she did not like. Padmé's older sister had their mother's cooking talent as well, but the gene seemed to have passed over Padmé herself. Padmé had yet to try a dish of her own cooking that she _did_ like. Most of her attempts at cooking had ended up in burnt disasters, and there was that one explosion. She would rather not think of that, though. It had been enough to make her keep away from ovens for years after the experience.

"Oh, there you are, Padmé!" Jobal seemed slightly distressed. "If you hadn't come home soon, I was going to com you at the Palace holocom."

"Why? Is something wrong?" Padmé was a little worried as she followed her mother back into the kitchen. Normally when she went to the Palace, she was home much later than this. Her mother shouldn't have had any reason to expect Padmé home as early as she was, and her mother definitely should not have been worried if Padmé had come home later.

"Well, it's your father," Jobal said sounding exhausted as she wiped her hands with a dish towel. "He got a call from work today saying that he supposedly _has _to go to some sort of big convention being held on Alderaan. It's about a new exhibit in one of Aldera's history museums. Apparently, he would be missing out on a 'once in a lifetime opportunity,' or so he told me." She threw the dish towel on the counter, in exasperation. "The worst part is that if he wants to make it on time, he has to leave tonight of all times! I told him that he is simply getting too old for spur of the moment space travel, but you know how your father is..."

Padmé's father, Ruwee Naberrie, was the history professor at the local university in Theed. He had been teaching at the university long before Padmé was born, and she did not see him retiring at any time in the foreseeable future. He simply loved his job too much. Ruwee loved anything to do with history, and all the bookshelves in their house were crammed with thick biographies and old history texts.

"Mom, don't worry so much. I'm sure Dad will be fine." Padmé gave her mother a reassuring smile. "Besides, Alderaan isn't that far away, and you two aren't _that_ old. I hate that Dad has to go away just as I get to stay home, but this convention won't last too long. Right?"

Jobal sighed. "I suppose not. Ruwee said it would only be a couple of days. I just don't want him going all that way on his own."

"Relax. Dad will be fine. You'll see."

"So," said Padmé feeling the need to change the topic, "need any help with dinner?"

"Dear, I hope you aren't serious about that offer. Don't you remember the last time you tried to 'help' me with dinner?"

Padmé chose not to respond to her mother's question and instead decided to go into the living room to catch up with the HoloNews.

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Dinner was a quiet affair for the Naberries that night. Jobal was still upset that her husband was going to the convention on Alderaan. Padmé tried to lighten the mood, but neither of her parents seemed to be in the right frame of mind for her jokes.

Later that night, just as Ruwee was getting ready to leave, Padmé's sister, Sola, her husband, Darred, and their two children, Ryoo and Pooja, came to say their goodbyes. Sola and her family lived just a few miles away, so they came to visit often.

"Goodbye, Dad. Be careful," Sola told her father as she gave him a hug. Darred simply shook Ruwee's hand and gave him a clap on the back.

"Bye Grandpa," the two girls squealed as they ran up to their grandfather.

"Goodbye my little princesses," Ruwee told them as he bent down to give each girl a hug.

Pooja looked up shyly at her grandfather, and Ryoo said hopefully, "Are you going to bring us any surprises back from Alderaan, Grandpa?"

"Girls!" Sola scolded. "Don't ask your grandfather that! He doesn't have to bring you something just because he's going on a trip. You two know that."

"But Grandpa brought us something the last time he went somewhere," Pooja protested. Ryoo nodded her head in agreement. Sola simply raised an eyebrow and gave the girls one of those 'you-better-not-say-another-word-if-you-know-what's-good-for-you' looks which all mothers seem to possess in some form or another.

Ruwee chuckled. He bent down beside the two girls and whispered in their ears. "Of course I'll bring you two back something. Just don't tell your mother." He put his index finger to his lips in the "shhh" sign. The girls giggled and looked toward their mother. Sola didn't look pleased at all by this turn of events.

Padmé, deciding she'd better intervene, said goodbye to her father next. "Bye, Dad. Come home soon. Mom and I are going to miss you."

"I'll miss you, too," Ruwee said as he hugged his youngest daughter, and then moved to hug his wife.

"Ruwee, please be careful," Jobal begged. "Com us everyday."

"I will, I will. I promise," Ruwee said as he turned away from his family and walked toward his ship. He turned back to wave one last time before he boarded the ship and headed off to Alderaan.

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The convention had been a little longer than Ruwee had expected, but that was nothing unusual. He had commed his family everyday, just as he had promised. He had even managed to pick up some gifts for the girls in one of Aldera's famous toy shops.

Simply put, his time on Alderaan went without a hitch. On the way back from Alderaan, however, was when all of the problems occurred.

His hyperdrive was malfunctioning. Again. He had just recently had it fixed. The mechanic had told Ruwee when he fixed it that there wasn't much he could do. The mechanic had said that he probably needed to get a whole new hyperdrive unit. A new hyperdrive, though, would cost a lot of credits, and Ruwee didn't think he needed a new one that badly. He very rarely traveled, anyway. Now, of course, he was seriously regretting not buying a new one.

He knew he couldn't make it back to Alderaan to fix the hyperdrive, and he definitely couldn't make it to Naboo with it malfunctioning as it was. He needed to land his ship, and attempt to repair it enough to get him home.

He searched for the closest inhabited system on his ship's computer. Vjun. It would not have been his first choice, but at that moment, he really didn't have the time to be picky. He needed to land and get the hyperdrive fixed immediately, or he wouldn't be able to make it home to his family anytime soon. The choice was already made for him.

He quickly guided his ship into the planet's stormy atmosphere and began looking for a place to land. According to his computer, Vjun had a very small population because of its acidic rain. He would have to be very careful where he landed. He didn't want the acid to melt his ship.

Directly ahead of him, Ruwee saw the dark outline building. As he got closer to it, it appeared to be a castle or some sort of fortress. It was ominous; like a dark shadow against the stormy backdrop of the planet's sky. In truth, Ruwee was slightly afraid of it.

_I really don't think I want to know who lives there, _Ruwee thought to himself. _But I suppose I don't have much of a choice. It's the only place I've seen on this Force-forsaken planet that looks as if someone could live in it._

Ruwee flew to the castle and landed his ship on one of the castle's many landing pads. Cautiously, he stepped out of his ship. He had a strong sense of foreboding as he stared at the building towering above him. He stood there, at the foot of the castle, for a moment, debating with himself as to whether or not he should go inside.

Finally, gathering his courage, he began to walk toward the castle's two massive front doors, but just as he started to reach out his hand to open the doors, they swung open of their own accord. His brown eyes widened, and he instinctively took a step back. He wondered to himself what kind of being could live in this castle. Whatever it was, he hoped it would be willing to help him, but somehow, he doubted that.

Ruwee hesitated a moment before he took a step into the castle. As soon as he did, however, the heavy, durasteel doors slammed behind him. Ruwee jumped at the noise, though he should have expected it. The doors had opened by themselves after all. It was only right to assume that they would close by themselves as well.

The inside of the castle was just as dark as the outside had been. Ruwee fumbled in the darkness for a few minutes before he was able to find the light switch. He flipped it on, and suddenly the foyer hall he had entered was bathed in a glowing soft yellow light.

Ruwee looked around the room. It didn't contain much. An old-fashioned spiral staircase took up most of the room. A couple of uncomfortable looking chairs sat in one corner, and an old coatrack stood near the doors. A couple of paintings hung on the walls, though they seemed a tad morbid for Ruwee's taste. One depicted a vase of wilted flowers and the other, a dark, stormy sea. The storm did not look so unlike the one raging on just outside the castle doors.

Ruwee, deciding he would most likely find the someone downstairs, continued walking down the hall. He walked past several large, nearly empty rooms. One of them appeared to be a sitting room and another which was, perhaps, a dining room.

It didn't take him long to notice a common theme throughout the castle. Black. Nearly all the rooms and everything within them were done in black; the floors, the walls, the furniture, the ceiling even. Whoever owned this castle seemed to almost have a phobia of color.

The rooms also held very little personal effects, he noticed. The furniture seemed to just be in the rooms for show rather than serving a real purpose. Ruwee would have thought that the castle was uninhabited if everything was not so meticulously clean.

Eventually, he made his way into what appeared to be a library. It was enormous, much bigger than any personal library he had ever seen. The floor to ceiling shelves ran all the way around the room, and every centimeter of the shelving space was occupied.

He walked over to the shelf nearest him and ran his hand across the spines of the books, scanning the titles. He didn't recognize any of them. He tried another shelf, but again, none of the titles were familiar. He wasn't even sure what some of the titles meant.

Ruwee was by no means an ignorant man. In fact, he was a very well read man, and it irked him slightly that he had no knowledge of the books in this mysterious castle. Deciding that perhaps his ship could wait a bit, Ruwee picked a book at random off one of the shelves. The book was bound in thick brown leather, and the title, _The Philosophy and Practical Uses of the Force Throughout the Ages_, was written in golden script across the front cover. He determined that the book must be very old because he had not seen books like this one in quite a while. Everything was on datapads nowadays.

Ruwee owned several old-fashioned books himself, but he knew none of his were as old as this one. The library and its collection of strange, old books piqued his interest.

Not for the first time that night, and certainly not for the last, Ruwee wondered just where exactly he was.


End file.
